[[quoteright:280:[[Franchise/{{Transformers}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lioconvoy-kibbles_9526.jpg]]]][[caption-width-right:280:Kibbles and bits and bits and bits...]]

What happens when a TransformingMecha can't hide its ShapeshifterBaggage.

Coined by the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fan community, [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Kibble "kibble"]] is the general term for the odd parts of one mode that "hangs around" in the other, unable to be converted into something useful or blend in properly to hide it. In a television show or movie geared more for kids, kibble can be used as disposable "parts" that can be torn or shot off from a character, showing [[OnlyAFleshWound superficial damage]] without exposing the kiddies to the true horrors of war.

When the ''majority'' of an alternate mode is this, it's known as a [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Shellformer shellformer,]] as one mode forms a "shell" around the protein-packed peanutty goodness that is the other. It's basically like a toy hiding within an egg, and the egg becomes a large backpack or cape behind the robot.

A related term is "Partsforming" (portmanteau of "Parts" and "Transforming"), when a TransformingMecha transforms by removing kibble altogether and re-attaching it somewhere else on its body (after transforming what's left) to finish the transformation. A classic example would be the original Optimus Prime toy who had his hands removed from his arms and stored in his cab in vehicle mode. In more lazy transformation, the entire transformation may consist of partsforming, with the core toy remaining essentially the same and only the position of the kibble determining its current mode. Often in CombiningMecha, a degree of partsforming is expected as the combiner's hands, feet or head may not be part of the mecha who becomes its arms, legs or torso.

If the media product in question is MerchandiseDriven, kibble can severely hurt the playability of the resultant toys, as the "hanging" pieces can restrict articulation or - if they can be detached and separated from the main robot - become easily lost. On the other hand, the latter case has created a lucrative online trading business for fans in need of a replacement.

Artfully-placed kibble can be visually appealing, not to mention the fact that oftentimes the kibble is necessary for the transformation to work at all, so it's not all bad. Classic characters such as Prowl have the doors of their vehicle mode form door "wings" on the character and are not only perfectly fine for articulation but also gives him a [[DistinctiveAppearances distinctive (and badass looking) silhouette]]. And depending on how flexible the design is, fans can sometimes create their own appearance for the character, shifting the kibble to become a pseudo-shield, armor or weapon that the original designers did not intend for.

Not to be confused with "bitz", a wargaming hobby term for spare parts originating in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fandom.

----!!Examples:

* {{Transformers}}** Bulkhead in ''TransformersAnimated'' shows off the single most awesome use of kibble ever, by converting the "leftover" parts of his vehicle mode [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:Bulkheadchair.jpg into a chair.]] One of his many toys [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Bulkhead_%28Animated%29 can do the same thing (leader, 2008).]] This shows the impact kibble has on the fandom, as everyone went crazy with that idea.*** A number of other transformers have the ability to move the wheels on their legs down to their feet, allowing them to skate with them. Bumblebee uses this liberally in ''TransformersAnimated'', and Optimus Prime does so at one point as well.** Hot Shot of Anime/TransformersArmada can do it as well. Interestingly, Bumblebee in ''Animated'' was ''intended'' to be a new version of Hot Shot before the live-action film increased Bumblebee's name value. It's been noted even by people who didn't know about this that he ''acts'' more like a Hot Shot than a Bumblebee.** In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'' #45, Krok comments that he knows a mech who was so anti-alt-mode, he had all his kibble surgically removed because he couldn't stand to look at himself in the mirror.* In the TransformersFilmSeries Michael Bay wanted a "realistic" interpretation of giant alien robots that transform into automobiles. The Autobots in the film series generally lack excessive kibble. For example, the Buster Optimus Prime actually completely averts this trope by having his Ion Gun form from his detachable fuel tanks. The designs in general treat the vehicle parts as being either smoothly integrated into their body or as being a sort of armor plating. This has generally resulted in some of the most slender designs ever made. Although how well they [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy resemble the toy varies]].** ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'', part of Devastator comes from two wrecking ball cranes. Guess what the kibble is. Just guess. It's a pair of giant steel balls hanging from his crotch. Yes, Creator/MichaelBay went for a dick joke.*** Note that ''none'' of the vehicles that make up that particular Devastator have a wrecking ball.** Unlike the aforementioned Transformers above, the Devastator toys lack that particular kibble for reasons that shouldn't need stating considering its nature.** Rumor has it that at least one of the higher-ups at Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic was so opposed to the "robot balls" that they made at least one rendered scene without them and submitted them as part of an appeal to omit them. It wasn't to be.*** Though the Third Party 'garage' makers have "come to the rescue" with add-on parts that are these bits of kibble for the Legends class version, and the Supreme version.*** Rampage's toy had an absurdly large kibble backpack that folds out to become "legs" to help him balance. Meanwhile, Soundwave's figure has absurd amounts of kibble that form his wings and shoulders, and Voyager Megatron's very shellformer-esque tank mode top becomes a pair of ''huge'' wings.* A lesser-used definition of 'kibble' (which, however, was the earliest known use of the word as Transformers slang) is the parts that are left over from a toy's transformation. A truly disappointing number of the finer details of older CombiningMecha come from a bag of parts, to the point that the individual vehicles on their own are basically just framework. If you lay out Superion's extra bits as they would be if they were on the final robot, it's more likely to be recognized as Superion than if you assembled the five bots and didn't add the combiner kibble. As toy technology improves, this is less so today, to the point where [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Bombshock_(PCC) the most recent designs]] don't have any at all (although they still have plenty of the ''other'' kind of kibble).** Anime/TransformersEnergon's combiner teams tried to solve the kibble problem by having the individual [=TFs'=] weapons become the hands and feet.*** Later on, the Combiner Wars toyline refined this approach** The set of deluxe figures based on the Combaticons/Bruticus from ''TransformersFallOfCybertron'' avert the problem by simply having hands built into the figures that can become limbs, and having the feet form from miscellaneous vehicle kibble (the first variety of kibble, that is).** However, the Japanese-only Transformers line "Operation Combination" had three combiners named Sixbuilder, Sixwing, and Sixturbo whose extra parts are put to good use: they could combine into small jets, able to be piloted by any of the individual team members. (Maybe they should have called him Sevenwing.) The same line also slightly modified the previous year's Sixliner to make Sixtrain; both used the kibble as extra cars to be pulled by the train-bots. After all five were reissued well over ten years later, four of them (Sixliner was omitted) were ''finally'' released in America, renamed (and in Sixbuilder's and Sixwing's cases, repainted) as new versions of [[TransformersGenerationOne Devastator, Superion, Defensor]], and [[Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise Rail Racer]]. Sadly, outside of a [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Defensor_%28Universe%29 cameo,]] none of them have appeared in any cartoons or comics... yet.** The ''Beast Wars Neo'' toys were notorious for being "shellformers" with much kibble that doesn't integrate at all into the robot form. Forget "becomes a backpack or a cape," the animal parts, ''mostly intact,'' just hung off wherever they happened to be. Break basically has a giant penguin for shoulders - beak, feet, and all. ''Nothing'' folds away or attempts to look more attractive. Similar can be said of the entire line.** The ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' ''Transformers'' (no, they weren't tied into the Transformers universe, but apparently the similarity in transforming, not to mention the [[Series/{{Animorphs}} crappy TV show]] airing at the same time, led to a line of Transformer/Animorphs toys being released) toys had similar problems with animal parts hanging off. The [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Hork-Bajir 'Visser Three to Hork Bajir']] one is an especially huge mess because it was a triple changer. Tobias's body still looks very hawk-like in his human form, with the hawk head visible hanging down in the back. * Parodied in ''Anime/ProjectAKo''. B-Ko designed a huge transforming mecha, and after giving a list of features worthy of a car dealership, she orders the pilot to kill. The pilot, however, has been twisted up due to kibble pushing into the cockpit and rearranging things very painfully. What's worse, in the process, the ''start button'' is put into a position that cannot be reached with human anatomy.* Played straight in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' with Gino's Knightmare Frame, the Tristan. In its first appearance, you can clearly see its hands right next to the giant 'Anchors.'* The ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise tends to be all over the spectrum with regards to this trope but special mention has to go to the Union and AEU mecha from ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]''. This can probably be pinned to the fact that they aren't fully transformable and can only change between forms in the hangars (though in the first season, TheRival pulls off the first-ever on-the-fly transformation).* The [[WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGoBots Go-Bots]] seemed generally more willing to make use of their kibble than Transformers were. A Guardian with a cockpit in his chest might allow a human to ride around in it; or a Renegade might forcibly shove a human into his cockpit to hold him prisoner. And they would frequently pop their heads up out of their vehicle modes to emphasize a point when speaking, particularly Cy-Kill. Scooter pretty much always left his face visible when transformed, but he's a bit of a subversion. (The toy's head became the vehicle's front wheel, not the handlebars where the cartoon puts his face in vehicle form)** The Go-Bots had a Combiner pack called the Puzzlers that consisted of 6 normally transforming figures that also combined into a single robot, and despite being made back in the eighties, there was ''no'' detachable kibble of any kind - absolutely everything was built in.** This was one of the toys' main advantages; they ''never'' used detachable kibble, all of the parts were in both modes. It was also one of their main disadvantages, since it tended to make the robot forms look ridiculous.* The various ''SuperSentai'' and ''PowerRangers'' HumongousMecha have different combined forms that may either be fairly slender or cumbersome to the point that they shouldn't have any real range of motion. Generally, the technology-based series have fairly smooth looking Megazords while the animal-themed series usually have a giant animal head or five sticking out of the chest and/or sides.** Ushi Origami from ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' has very obvious fists sticking out of the cannons on its back.** Gokaioh from ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' (known as the Legendary Megazord in ''Series/PowerRangersSuperMegaforce'') has some kibble problems with the vehicles forming its arms. [=GokaiJet=] is basically an arm with wings, as its fist is clearly visible. [=GokaiRacer=] does it a little bit better by having its fist being the motor block. But it is still recognizable as a fist. [=GokaiGalleon=] also has some kibble, in the form of the upper legs sticking out of it's back.*** Sadly, Kanzen Gokaioh was semi-spoiled because Machalcon has a very obvious hand sticking out of his back from day one. At the very least, you ''knew'' he had a formation other than "gets ridden like a skateboard."** ''Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger'' has some big offenders in this regard:*** Some of the separate mecha from the DX Shurikenjin. [=DragoMaru=] and [=ShinobiMaru=] both have an arm mode. You would think that they would have the hand come separately, like with [[Series/SeijuuSentaiGingaman Gingaioh]], but nope, the hand can be seen between the legs.*** [=LionHaoh's=] arms/front legs have hands sticking to their elbows, which are needed for the combination with Shurikenjin and Bison King.*** The final mecha, [=GekiAtsuDaiOh=], is very bad with this. Especially the center part Genbumaru, which should look like a turtle, but instead looks like a robot with its lower legs and arms chopped off, since the upper legs and face of the combined robot are very clearly visible, as seen [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/8/89/Genbumaru.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151001042101 here]]*** ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger'' is almost entirely kibble. Since the mecha are formed by cubes stacking on top of each other, the parts for the series' main robots are visible on one of the cube faces. The SixthRanger's robot, a large rhino-truck, turns the rhino's horn into one of its hands - said horn-hand containing the face of its combined form with the core five's robots on the back at all times, not even tucked away behind a panel.* A consistent problem with ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' toys; some (Greymon -> [=MetalGreymon=]) do it significantly better than others (Patamon -> Angemon, which had a particularly bad case of the shell problem). It was particularly bad with the [[FusionDance Jogress Evolution]] toys around ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', and it didn't help that they simply did not design Omegamon in a way at all friendly to an adequate combining toy. The ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'' line mostly cleaned up its act in regard to this trope, but still had a small problem with Shoutmon's head still being somewhat visible when it's being used to form the V crest on the chest of Shoutmon X3 and higher.** War Greymon and Metal Garurumon were the first digimon to be modeled after their toys instead of vice versa. This lead to creative use of kibble, such as Agumon's head and claws becoming the Brave Shield and Dramon Killers or Gabumon's feet, horn and tail becoming his shoulder mounted missile launchers, tail and wings respectively. However, this caused them to fit in poorly with their other forms due to clashing themes.* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'': Den-O's armor consists of two pieces which swap around depending on which form is active: Sword Form's chestplate opens up vertically for Gun Form, and it becomes the backplate for Rod and Ax Form. Meanwhile, Ax Form's chestplate splits horizontally for Rod Form's chest and shoulders, and it is (of course) Sword and Gun's back. Wing Form is a recolored and modified Sword Form, while [[SuperMode Climax and Liner Forms]] are completely original.** One of the powers of the eponymous character in ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' was the Final Form Ride, which could turn other Riders into huge weapons, usually falling in the {{BFS}} and {{BFG}} category. While the show could, logically, portray these transformations cleanly, the toys not so much. When looking at some of the Riders in weapon mode from a certain angle, it just seemed like them taking an uncomfortable pose while having extra bits and pieces attached to their body.** The main transformation gimmick in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', was that the Riders summoned giant pieces of fruit that deployed around them as armor. Needles to say, the toy versions of some of armors had very noticeable kibble. Two good examples are Mango Arms and Lemon Energy Arms, both of which have {{Badass Cape}}s in the show; obviously the toys couldn't magically transform, so instead you have plastic "shells" hanging off the Rider's back.----